Category: Technique

Steve Vai is helping make waves in the iOS space, with his collaboration on the Ocean Way Microphone Locker. This is an app available for the iPhone or iPad that enables musicians to pair the right microphone with the right instrument, as well as its optimum placement. This is a boon for fledgling musicians, as getting the perfect setup is sometimes considered a lost art. From Steve Vai’s website: “Hey folks, I am thrilled to announce a new app I…

As a rhythm guitarist, I hate playing in funny keys such as F# as it usually involves lots of bar chords, which gets the left hand tired really quick. I usually resort to sneaking a capo in when no one’s looking, but I know some would just tsk at me disapprovingly, and tell me that I need to build up my finger/hand strength. But I digress – what I really wanted to talk about was a site I stumbled across…

I’m always on the lookout for interesting sites and resources for learning the guitar, and this one fit the bill to a T. Songsterr, according to their blog, “is a service offering an extraordinary experience of playing, learning, and singing guitar on-line. Songsterr provides a realistic guitar sound and gives you a full control over the playback – it’s up to you to decide when it’s time to move to the next chord and to sing a new verse. All…

Back in the day when I trained as a classical guitarist, I remember carefully grooming the nails of my right hand, always manicuring them to ensure that they had the nice squarish shape with slightly rounded corners, and filing them with emery paper until they were smooth. I went to the extent of ensuring I had lots of calcium in my diet, and using a special hand and nail lotion to ensure that my nails were, excuse the pun, tough…

If you’re a rhythm player like me, solos usually consist of either (1) exact knock-offs of those on a track, (2) monotonous and repetitive melodies, interspersed very infrequently with (3) once off, never to be repeated patches of brilliance. Thank heavens then for guitar teachers like Keith Moore, who share these tips on improving your guitar solos. His main points: Learn rhythm Practice to jam tracks Practice playing less Steal from other players He also mentions that practising scales will help you in…

I’m always on the lookout for an easy way to learn new chords – while I keep a chord book, I find the internet is the fastest way to lookup a particular chord and its variations. Thanks to this post at redferret, I’ve found another favourite to add to my collection of musical links. This chord dictionary is pretty basic, in that it only has major, minor and dominant 7th variations, but I have to give it props for the…

Most electric guitars come with a variety of knobs and switches. At the bare minimum, there will be a volume knob, and a tone knob. When I first started to play electric guitar, I had no idea how to use these basic controls effectively, and like anyone picking up the electric for the first time, I just left everything on full and played. If I wanted a different sound, I would either use an effects pedal, or experiment with various…

More and more people are getting into B.Y.O (Build Your Own) pedal kits, modifying a pedal or two, or even working on the electronics of their own guitars. So you’re looking at starting out building or modifying a pedal or two, or switching the pickups out on your guitar? What gear should you have to get the job done? When starting out, there are a few essential tools that you should have in your arsenal. Read on to find out…

My main rig for guitar effects at the moment is a well used but loved BOSS GT-6 Guitar Effects Processor. For me, the convenience just can’t be beat, but there are those who argue that individual pedals ultimately give more flexibility and better sound. For those wanting to get into the effects pedal scene, here’s a great guide to start out your collection.

The internet has a wealth of information, and if you know where to look, almost everything is available, including guitar lessons. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is a bit of a challenge though, as often some of these so called free lessons are just designed to upsell you to some paid ones. So where do you go for your free guitar lessons online? There are certainly plenty on youtube – can you recommend any good channels? My favourite for christian…